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Last night there was a segment on the Daily Show called “Nip/Talk” in which a correspondent interviewed first a dermatologist and then a speech coach. The second half involved instruction on the importance of signaling your end of turn in an interview, reminiscent of the Beattie 1982 paper we read in Speech Prosody this semester, where the conversation styles of Margaret Thatcher and Jim Callahan were compared.

Check out the segment here.

emma :: May.16.2007 :: misc, phonology, phonetics, linguistics, pop-culture :: No Comments »

I just got this e-mail from Brown’s Vice President of Administration:

The National Weather Service has issued a weather advisory for this afternoon and evening for potential strong thunderstorms. Also there is a tornado watch until 6:00 PM this evening.

I’ve never been in a place where a tornado watch was even possible.

Something about this is wonderful and absurd. I’ve been having cross reactions to almost everything I eat now (ah, the luxury of being a vegetarian), so I’m looking forward to rain. I guess a tornado watch isn’t the same as a tornado warning, but I still have my fingers crossed. I want to see some lightning and farmyard animals in the sky.

emma :: May.16.2007 :: misc :: 1 Comment »

I’ve never felt more miserable from the coming of a season that is supposed to be pleasant and relaxing. My mom has pretty bad allergies to pollen, but I’ve never had a problem with it or any of the other allergies she has (I think she’s allergic to penicillin or something quite ridiculous like that).

Seasonal allergies may also cause cross reactivity to some fruits and nuts which you may not normally be allergic to. This is quite amusing to me because it seems quite absurd that on top of all this misery, the pain in my eyes, my constant sneezing, the sore throat, I can’t enjoy a banana without feeling even more miserable (hey, at least I have a potential cause for my mystery illness). Ah, nature.

I used to complain quite a lot about the air quality in Los Angeles. But in Lady Los Angeles’ defense, the air there never made my eyes burn.

emma :: May.16.2007 :: misc :: 2 Comments »